First Pro/1/2 race.

A break formed. Two junior nats, two pretty good Cat1s, myself and some other dude.

A well known dude in these parts started gapping people off in order to slim the ranks from the original six in the break.

I was the last person to get broken off. Three survived.

I stayed in no man's land for a LONG time at FTP. I was not having a good time.

Got picked up by what was left of the field. We worked, but not smoothly in the least, to bring them back. There was yelling. Thank God my voice didn't crack.

We got to within 100m of them with a lap and a half to go. Someone, who I shall not bother naming, jumped across to the break. As I was on the front and rotating back, I was in no shape to hit it. F*** me.

A dude who was in the break with me originally takes off with half a lap to go. I jump on. I pull through. He jumps through his turn, gapping me off, and I hit the last corner, going reallllly wide.

14-13-12-11. What had been a 15-20m gap turned into half a bike, but I still came up short.

6th place, in a small but decently talented field. Out of the money.

In other news:

1) Watching the 3s race, and knowing the guys who took the podium places, pretty sure I would have been doing the Jaun Antonio Flecha.

2) I'm going to have to continue to excavate the recesses of the pain cave, in order to make more storage room. That, or get my @ss handed to me at NRC races.

Out of the money? I've never done a P12 without it going at least 10 deep. Well, maybe many moons ago when prize money was limited, but these days even the smallest races spread the wealth as deep as possible.

Out of the money? I've never done a P12 without it going at least 10 deep. Well, maybe many moons ago when prize money was limited, but these days even the smallest races spread the wealth as deep as possible.

Sounds like you were a 3 ready to move up. Good luck next year.

You're telling me, man. Most of my 3s races were at least 10, or 15 if not 20 deep.

But, it's the end of the season. Half the experienced racers out there have gone into hibernation until cross season really kicks into gear. Two weekends from now, the road season officially ends, after a four race series this upcoming weekend and next.

Just some piddly little crit in Wisconsin. 25 dudes on the line, if that.

I'm treating this race as a learning experience, because I've never been worked over like that before. People have tried it in the 3s but that usually backfired, and they'd end up being gapped off themselves.

Which one? I thought USCF sanctioned racing in Wisconsin ended several weeks ago. Where are these races I don't know about?

ABR...Kenosha series.

The Fall Fling series is this upcoming weekend and next. ABR races as well, but it's put on by ABD, so it should actually get a decent amount of people out. I've heard tell of a couple Pro dudes showing up, former ABD'ers, but who knows.

TT and crit this saturday and sunday, RR and crit next sat/sun. The RR is actually up near Wisco, so it might be worth your time.

They're doing Pro1/2/3 all together, but separating the 3's in the results. Which could be both good and bad.

Looking back, it made sense to do what he did. Try to get rid of any would be late race attackers before they have a chance. The two dudes with him, one a masters racer, don't have the best jump in the world from what I saw, so it was a good idea. He was racing solo like me, so there was no "Plan B". He more than likely knew he was the strongest guy there, but wanted to make sure someone he didn't know wasn't going to nip him at the line.

I dislike losing, but when someone just outwits me, due to lack of experience on my part, I can accept that. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Pretty adaptable for this one. I'm hoping this particular situation won't happen again any time soon.

you managed to become a category 2 racer without a team? This is something i'd like to read about....

The team work that I did this year involved pulling my sprinter up to the front and/or leading him out. That's about it. Otherwise it was me and whoever I was with in the breaks. Good workers in a breakaway are the best teammates you can have; blocking is only so effective if a powerful team wants to bring you back.

I did more in the college season, pulling back breaks by working with other teams' workers at the front of the field. It sucked to blow up 3 laps into 5 lap races, but it made me stronger for it, in the end.

It will be fun to work with guys in the 2s this year and really see team racing tactics play out.